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Subject: Re: Shredder 10 and 2006 chess engines

Author: Sandro Necchi

Date: 13:10:54 02/20/06

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On February 20, 2006 at 12:14:01, Vincent Diepeveen wrote:

>On February 19, 2006 at 05:00:48, Sandro Necchi wrote:
>
>I feel you 'hit the nail on the head' when predicting that in 2006 we will see
>huge progresses in engines.

I did not say that I am the only one to think this, but some people do not and
feel that what is true today will be the same tomorrow...
The message was toward them...

>A result is that certain engines jump harder than
>others. So real strong engines of the past will fade and new engines will jump
>bigtime.

Well, I believe some engine of the past will do, but some will keep up and be
able to improve further...I have no data on new ones, so I am expecting some one
to come out from the dark, like Rybka, but I am not sure which one...

>
>Fruit's public source code has already proven that. It has boosted in a direct
>manner especially engines like Spike, Toga, not to mention Rybka. Yet it's
>public code so we can see where the jump came from and learn from that for our
>own engines.

Yes, this is known...but I was referring also to the possibility to face a
stronger opponent to get more data where to make improvements...if one is able
to understand this, of course...

>
>What is not sure is which engines make the biggest jump in terms of elo
>strength. In openingsbooks things are still clear, simply because there is only
>1 professional near to fulltime openingsbook creator on this planet (Erdogan
>Gunes) who in world champs 2006 gets the support of a 1056 processor Altix (from
>which zappa effectively will search on a cpu or 450-500 i guess as largest
>partition is 512p). Yet he this time doesn't get help of a titled player for his
>openings book.

In my predictions I was referring to the SSDF list and not the 2006 WCCC.

Of course with such an hardware and bugfree that program has the biggest
chances, but on a few games the luck factor (correct openings choice against
specific opponents...good positions out of book even if taken out of book
soon...) can play a lot to the final score...

>
>On the other hand there is Noomen now who can make a book for Rybka in world
>champs 2006 Turino, which will for sure be a book full of fireballs. If you
>stumble into one of such fireballs then you're completely dead.

I know it as I know him since nearly 20 years now...

>
>I personally doubt however Fritz can make a big jump in 2006 based upon only
>engine strength. The strong point from Fruit was basically already a strong
>point of Fritz and as Frans isn't joining any tournaments anymore with Fritz in
>future, he'll probably have problems finding information how to improve his
>program, whereas at world champs 2005 there were very interesting talks in this
>respect where programmers could learn from other programmers.

I was referring to the SSDF list and I think another gain is possible, but not
more than 50-70...of course it could be less as well...but this would place the
program away from the first ones...

>
>Online commercial programmers simply aren't talking.
>
>In short other programmers such as me are learning a lot more now than Frans
>can, despite his amazing understanding of how IDA pro works (to debug Quest of
>course).

Yes, I know you have a lot of potential, but since I was referring to the SSDF
list and I have not news of your program being commercial I did not mention you.

>
>It's true that on paper Fruit could progress really a lot, yet Fabien will face
>a few practical problems which were similar to when i was making a go playing
>program. I stopped its development for the same reason and other French
>programmers also have that same problem. So Fabien still has to prove itself
>there.

Yes, it is not clear, but I personally think he will be able to improve further.

>
>Making something simplistic that's real well tuned and is kicking unprecedented
>butt is a true historic achievement. Yet Fruit progress could only come from
>points now where Tiger and Hiarcs also have problems progressing. So this is an
>open challenge where end of 2006 we will be able to give an answer too. World
>champs 2006 will really come too soon in that respect.

Well, the 2006 WCCC will be fun and to me is not clear who will be the
winner...we will see...

I believe Hiarcs will improve further as the programmer is quite good and now
working full time on it...

>
>I also look forward to the new DeepSjeng. I remember how in a previous lifetime
>its unique playstyle was real interesting. It seems that multiprocessing is
>completely fixed now and superior working in comparision to older versions.

He has to make a big jump to me to be really competitive for the title...

>
>It is here where engines like Rybka, Fruit, still have to prove itself.

Well, yes the SMP version of Rybka would be quite strong...especially with a
strong book...

>
>Yet you really are forgetting to mention a bunch of amateur engines. Starting
>with Glaurung, The Baron, Spike and so on.

Well, I did not forget...I have no data for their commercial version (SSDF list)

>
>Glaurung is nearly SMP now. Just in time for world champs. The Baron already was
>and latest revisions of The Baron where Diep of course tests a lot against, seem
>really hundreds of rating points improved.

OK, but I had not data on this one...

>
>From shredder10 i am sure it will be improved a lot. He has proven that in the
>past and he'll do that in the future once again.

Yes, I can see it...

>
>The real interesting thing of 2006 is which new engines will be there besides
>Rybka that can really deliver a hard punch to opponents.

I think the level got closer, so it will be a hard figth...

>
>Just improving 100 points simply isn't enough for that.

I agree.

>
>>On February 18, 2006 at 17:20:59, stuart taylor wrote:
>>
>>>On February 17, 2006 at 12:55:10, Sandro Necchi wrote:
>>>
>>>>On February 17, 2006 at 12:03:28, Marc Lacrosse wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On February 17, 2006 at 11:44:05, Sandro Necchi wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>On February 17, 2006 at 04:55:08, John Jack wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Shredder 10 is due two be released in April. Will it be stronger than Rybka???
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>J.J
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Shredder 10 is planned to be released in March and not April.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>For the second question it is not easy to answer as Rybka commercial version is
>>>>>>not available yet and Shredder 10 is not ready yet (under development still), so
>>>>>>you will have to wait March to find out.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Sandro
>>>>>
>>>>>Thanks for the information Sandro !
>>>>
>>>>you welcome.
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>By the way, will there still be two different versions (UCI and CB) ?
>>>>
>>>>Nothing has been decited yet as nothing has been shown to CB yet (that I know
>>>>of)
>>>>
>>>>We are still testing new better versions all the time.
>>>>
>>>>However my personal opinion is yes because CB will make it possible...I let you
>>>>guess why...
>>>
>>>So it's coming on well! Well, so is Rybka, I guess.  It's going going to be
>>>tough. All top programmers have to again become like very young in energy and
>>>determination.
>>>OK, so Shredder MIGHT do it, Rybka we know. Hiarcs and Fritz are what they are,
>>>Junior, silent, Tiger, off the scene, Fruit, looks like it did what it could,
>>>Chess master, never were too ambitious, others retired, I don't know?
>>
>>First of all I am not a magician, so the following expectations are based on my
>>knowledge of the programs and the way they are made as well as opinion on the
>>programmers ability and williness to work on their engines...
>>
>>Yes, Shredder has been improved a lot, but we are still working on it, so the
>>final version is not available yet and one cannot tell how strong it will be...
>>
>>Rybka we all know...expectations are easy for this program.
>>
>>Hiarcs is quite good and surely has more room for improvements, but his
>>programmer, which is one of the best, is working part time so we cannot expect
>>another big jump in the near future. I could be wrong of course if he can spend
>>a lot of time improving the engine as he has the potential...
>>
>>Fritz can be improved further and I am expecting another 50-70 Elo gain. Why so
>>much if normally it did not improved that much? Because (and this is for all
>>programs) the info you can get from a much stronger program let you speed up the
>>improvements being able to see more clearly the weaknesses of your program.
>>
>>Junior has a lot of potential too, but it seems the programmer is more busy with
>>other stuff...it can improve a lot if he can/wants to, but I doubt it would be
>>more than 100 Elo points...
>>
>>Tiger has potential too, but it looks like his programmer is taking a break, so
>>if this is true will not improve in the near future. I would expect a gain of
>>50-70 Elo if he does work on the engine...he shall work on the SMP version as
>>well...
>>
>>Fruit has more potential as it is still a young program and to expect 80-100 Elo
>>improvements is not being too optimistic...his programmer is quite good.
>>
>>Zappa will improve further as the version we saw was weaker than the previous
>>one. It is already a very strong program...maybe we will see a commercial
>>version too, but not in the near future it seems...
>>
>>Chess Master is already strong and can be improved further, but it seems that
>>his programmer is not interested on working on the engine as well as supply it
>>with a professional opening book...the programmer is quite good and may change
>>his mind...nobody seems to know...
>>
>>Gandalf is strong and seems to have a lot of room for improvements...his
>>programmer is quite experienced and seems motivated to get to the top...this is
>>one of the program I would expect the highest improvements...
>>
>>There are other programs which are quite strong and that can improve further...I
>>would not forget some programmers that are not active now, but were before and
>>that may will come back...
>>
>>2006 looks quite fun for computer chess funs!
>>
>>
>>Sandro
>>>
>>>S.Taylor
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>Marc
Sandro



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